


Do Rough Beginnings Make A Hero?

by TravellingVisitor



Category: Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda) - Fandom, Linked Universe - Fandom, LinkedUniverse - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Blood, Child Abandonment, Child Abuse, Confinement, NPC/Unnamed/Non-Canon Characters, Not like OCs or anything, Pre-Story, Said friend: you know who you are and ily but this is painful, Substance Abuse, Thank a friend of mine, Verbal Abuse, Victim Guilt, We're really venturing into headcanon territory y'all, possible series, yaaaaaaay ;w;
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:41:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21720088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TravellingVisitor/pseuds/TravellingVisitor
Summary: Sky looks back on his youth.Did he really have it so bad?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 65





	1. Prologue- I Understand!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [OcarinaOfLime](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OcarinaOfLime/gifts).



> The idea for this fic comes from a very good friend of mine. They made some amazing headcanons for the parental situations of all the Links, and being the nutjob I am, I latched onto Sky's immediately.  
> Thank you, Lime!  
> Hope y'all enjoy <3

They were happy. They always have been, and always will be.  
Link was sure of it!!!  
His Daddy was always smiling at him, scooping him onto his shoulders and bouncing him with all the happiness in the world. His Mommy was always with him, making him smile even when he got a scratch on his knee. She even kissed it better. She called him a big boy, and he was!!! He hadn't even lost breath running that time.  
With a giant smile Link grabbed onto his parents' hands, bouncing as they walked home together. The six year old giggled, full of a bright happiness, his lips curved into a smile that split a face still plump with baby fat.  
They were gonna be together forever.


	2. I Don't Understand.

_...He really had thought that, hadn't he?_

Link didn't know why his Daddy was gone, just that he was, and the little six year old boy ran from room to room in their little house looking for him, calling his name.  
Even when Mommy picked him up and cradled him close he still cried, balling small hands in her shirt and holding on tight as he sniffled and wailed into the fabric.  
He didn't notice the dark circles beneath her eyes, exhaustion lining her features as she quietly tried to sooth her crying son, resentment bubbling up slowly inside for the man who had been a part of splitting their little family in two. But now he was gone, and she had to take care of Link.  
All on her own.

A year passed and that hurt slowly dulled in Link, relying solely on his Mommy now, even though she seemed to get a bit sad sometimes. She still read him bedtime stories though, so that was nice.  
He liked the days when she didn't have those weird bottles in her hand. Whatever was in them made her act weird, he didn't like it.  
He had tried a sip once, to see why she liked it so much, and it had tasted so _yucky_. Why did Mommy drink it if it tasted so gross?  
Sitting on the floor, Link watched his Mommy drain the third bottle that day. He held his stuffed Loftwing to his chest, bright green like his Daddy's loftwing, hoping that he could make his Mommy proud at the ceremony tomorrow. He _knew_ he was gonna make her proud!  
Then she could smile again!  
Link brightened at the thought, flapping the stuffy's wings softly in his hands as the pop of another opening bottle sounded from where his Mommy sat.  
He was gonna make her so proud.

The very next day Link practically hauled his Mommy out of their little house, a bright smile on his face as she held a hand in front of her eyes and shielded them from the bright sunlight. She hadn't gone outside a lot nowadays. That was no fun.  
No!! Link shook himself off a bit, puffing up his chest and beaming proudly up at his Mommy. Happy thoughts today! Today was when he was gonna get his Loftwing, oh he was gonna make her so so proud! He hoped he got a green one, just like his Daddy.  
Green was his favorite color, anyways, and his Daddy's.  
With a giggle he pulled his Mommy towards the plaza, once again not seeing her expression, sour and irritated, with some of it even directed towards the boy who's small hand held hers in its grasp.

Link's big blue eyes turned to where she sat, an eager and happy expression on that pudgy, round face of his.  
She couldn't bare to see that face.  
With a grunt, the young woman averted her gaze and stared off to the edge of Skyloft, out to where the sun would kiss the edge of the clouds when it set, blatantly ignoring her son to wallow in her own head and heart.  
Her misery was her own, and she couldn't understand why this little... _brat_ of a child still managed to love that bastard a year after he just up and _left_.  
Her features contorted into a scowl, the woman continuing to stare out in silence. 

Even as the golden beak of the Crimson Loftwing nudged against Link's side, he still didn't pull his gaze away from his Mommy, standing on her own, looking away from him and making one of her really angry faces she made when he did something wrong, like broke her favorite teacup.  
He didn't mean to break her teacup.  
It was just pretty and he wanted to play with it...  
But was she not proud?... He had gotten his Loftwing! And a pretty red one too!  
In a moment though, he had a _fabulous_ idea!!  
Link's expression flipped into a smile nearly immediately and he reached up for his Loftwing's feathers, clambering up onto the bird's back.  
With a loud, happy cheer, both boy and bird launched into the sky as if they had done it a million times before.  
Now his Mommy _had_ to be proud of him!

He hadn't expected the reaction he got when he finally landed back down.  
All the adults had looked really, really proud... except for his Mommy.  
Why wasn't she proud?  
Had he not done it right?  
With a small, uncertain shift, he slid off of his loftwing at her prompting and followed her closely, hearing the bird squawk and follow closely to the little one.  
Link bit his lip, and then his fingernail, peeking at his mommy before looking forwards, tugging at the hem of his shirt. She looked even madder than before. Had he done something really really bad this time?  
Why was she so mad?....  
He opened his mouth to ask but was immediately silenced by a glare he had never seen before, a super angry one with narrowed eyes and lips pressed together, making Mommy look... a little scary.  
He snapped his jaw shut in moments, following her all the way home in silence.

The front door to their home was opened nearly viciously, and Link was shoved inside with no amount of gentleness.  
His Mommy closed the door tight before the Loftwing could even poke its head in.  
"What were you _thinking_ , you _stupid, idiotic, bratty_ child-" Came her voice, snarling, and Link teared up.  
He took a step back, and his Mommy seized his arm. "Did you just want everyone's attention on you, as always?? You're just like your bastard of a father, always trying to get the spotlight. I don't want to even _hear_ of you pulling a _stupid_ stunt like that again, _do you hear me_?" She snarled, Link immediately nodding as a few fat tears rolled down his cheeks.  
"And stop your sniveling. It's ugly." With a rough release of Link's arm she stalked to her bedroom, shutting the bedroom with a harsh snap.  
With a hiccup Link stood there, wide-eyed and trembling, rubbing at his face with his sleeves and trying to stop his crying, confused and upset and just... lost.  
He just wanted to make his Mommy proud.

As the months passed, the little family of mother and son visibly changed.  
The mother grew haggard, drunken, and unkempt, almost always carrying a flask in her hand.  
And the sunny little boy, little Link, grew quiet.  
He looked more tired, more withdrawn, and he spoke less and less as the months went on. He became more timid, more susceptible to bullies, and left the house far less often.  
And, most strangely of all, he seemed to be getting thinner.

At eight, Link was silent.  
He sat in his own room, quietly sitting and staring at the worn-down, patchy stuffed green loftwing he remembered playing with last year, just before he found his Loftwing. With a tiny sniffle he rubbed at one eye, and then at a creak of a floorboard, his hands flew to his mouth as if to stifle a sound.  
Drunken mutters sounded from behind the door and it flew open, slamming against the wall.  
It seemed that Mommy was in another of her angry times.  
Link did his very very best to be still and quiet, but at even one sight of him, the woman threw down her empty bottle to the floor, causing him to flinch as a loud smashing sound filled the room and glass skittered across the floor.  
"You... Lazy, stupid, worthless..." She growled, locking eyes with him. "I'm nearly at the end of my rope with you, and you had better wish I never reach the end of it because I am the _only_ one who could love you, even take you _in_." She spat, glaring at him as if daring him to speak, but his silence only seemed to enrage her more.  
"Oh, you want to give me the silent treatment then, you stupid 8 year old? Get your _ass_ over here," she growled, walking to him in three quick strides, and before he could even move she had him by the hair and was hauling him off his bed.  
"I'll teach you not to do _that_ , you _brat_. Just like your fucking _father_." The woman's teeth bared in a snarl as she practically dragged Link barefoot across the glass ridden floor, ignoring his whimpers as she tossed him into the closet and slammed it shut. 

"I don't want to hear a _peep_ from you."

Link stayed as quiet as he could until he heard her move a little farther away, most likely grabbing another bottle of alcohol.  
With a sniffle he sat down in the little space he had, trying to peek out of the crack between the two closet doors. He could feel his loftwing outside, beak tapping once against their little window, the sound hidden underneath the sound of a bottle smashing against the closet doors. He whimpered and shrank back, trying to hide from the small bits of glass that sprayed inside or the shouting of his angry Mommy.  
"Hylia, I wish I'd never had you. I wish I never slept with that son of a BITCH you call your father. You're lazy, just like he was. You aren't worth the time or the money I have to spend on you." She growled. "I swear to Hylia if I ever hear you mention your Daddy again-" Another smash, her tone mocking, "I swear I'll be done with you." With that she continued to rant and rave until it had all been worked out of her system, the house falling quiet as she walked away from the closet with her little boy still trapped inside, muttering about not wanting to waste time to make dinner for such a useless, lazy child.

He was finally let back out hours later, shivering a little as he tried to avoid stepping on the large amount of broken glass on the floor with his bare feet.  
He failed.  
By the time he got back to his Mommy his feet were leaving red drips on the floor, but he didn't dare pull the glass out yet. That might make her just as angry as before, and he didn't want to make Mommy angry.  
With a wave she dismissed him and tottered drunkenly back to her own bedroom, leaving him to clean up the mess with angry mutters following behind her. Taking a deep breath, Link swallowed and waited for her door to close before crouching and slowly starting to pick up the broken glass, piling it in his hand. He tried not to look at the red figure of a bird's head at the window, those intelligent eyes full of worry, an emotion that only grew as the little boy got a cut on his finger and whimpered only slightly. He just kept picking up glass, wanting the house to be clean for his Mommy when she woke back up. If only the glass wasn't so sharp.

He gathered every little bit of glass he could in his hands, moving in silence, slowly getting rid of the mess until the floor was clean again.  
Then, and only then, did he fix up his feet and hands. He sniffled just quietly, clumsily wrapping bandages around them, the young boy flexing his fingers before walking to his window and petting it quietly. His Loftwing stood just on the other side, watching him with an intelligent eye, and continued to watch the little boy even as he gave up on the window and climbed into bed.  
Hours pass, all was silent.  
All was still.  
Link, in the morning, woke to a surprisingly quiet home.

With a teeny yawn more fitting for a mouse, Link carefully got out of bed, fixing his pajamas to hide any bruises or cuts he got, and especially hiding his skinny frame.  
He knew his Mommy was usually awake by now... Where was she?  
He nibbled on his lower lip, walking gingerly to his door and opening it, slowly starting to search the house.  
Within ten minutes, tears were rising in his eyes again.  
There was nothing else left here.  
The bed in his Mommy's room had been stripped down to the mattress, all of her clothes were gone... Unbidden, memories of two years ago came flooding back, and Link cried.  
He cried like he hasn't cried ever since he was six and his Daddy had just vanished, leaving him and his Mommy all alone.  
But now even Mommy was gone.  
Where was she?  
He wanted her back.  
_He wanted his mommy back._  
Running to his room he scooped up his one pillow and hugged it to his face, sinking down onto the floor and curling up into a ball, wailing softly into the soft, huggable item, making more noise with his cries than he had in the past few months alone.  
He was alone.  
He was totally, completely alone.


	3. Epilogue- I'm Trying To Understand.

_Alone_.   
Standing in Skyloft, Sky stared across the plaza and down a path to a familiar tiny house sitting on its own, a cluster of wildflowers sprouting around it.   
It almost looked peaceful.   
Taking his sailcloth in his hands, Sky ran the fabric through his fingers in a grounding way.   
... He still missed her.   
Was that so wrong?   
She was his mother, she was.... She was the only one who would have kept him.   
A gentle sigh slid past his lips.   
Maybe he misunderstood everything.   
There must have been some fault of his, something... Something had to be there. He knew a good chunk of it was his own fault anyways.   
_Lazy...._   
He sighed again, gently letting go of the sailcloth. He stayed in thought for many minutes more until a familiar call of "Sky!!!!" sounded from behind him, and he smiled.   
He smiled, and headed back to the others.   
His friends.   
Maybe...   
Maybe his second family.


End file.
